Airline passengers caught with $400,000 worth of cocaine in pants

NEW YORK — Customs and Border Protection officers at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport said they captured two more passengers who attempted to smuggle drugs by strapping packages of cocaine to their legs.

The most recent seizure came when two men tried to bring 23 pounds of cocaine into the United States on April 19, officers said.

Both men allegedly had the drugs taped to their legs under their clothing, and one man taped the drugs to his back.

The two men traveled on the same flight from the Dominican Republic to New York last week, but it’s unclear if they knew each other.

“This latest seizure demonstrates our CBP officers being ever vigilant in protecting the United States from the distribution of these illicit drugs,” Leon Hayward, acting director of CBP’s New York field operations, said in a news release.